Vegetative reproduction during development in Australian pygmy and tuberous sundews

Abstract

To better understand the vegetative growth and vegetative reproduction of two types of Australian sundews, physiological and molecular approaches were taken. Tuberous sundews produce underground tubers while pygmy sundews make gemmae from leaves' stipules. The effects of Al, Mn and Mg in vitro and in vivo were examined to understand the basic role of these normal soil components on vegetative development. Surprisingly, Al promoted growth, and experiments using ionophores suggest that this was due to an inhibition of Ca uptake. In addition, tuber formation was induced using cytokinins in vitro as a first step in following tuber formation and knotted family genes, which may be involved in tuber formation, were detected by PCR. Tubers formed on detached leaves of Drosera peltata at concentrations of BA of 0.1–1.0 mg/L and PCR was used to demonstrate the presence of knotted family genes in pygmy and tuberous sundews. © 2005, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.